James 'Jim' Webb was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

-born international rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 player who played club rugby for Newport and international rugby for Wales

Wales national rugby union team

The Wales national rugby union team represent Wales in international rugby union tournaments. They compete annually in the Six Nations Championship with England, France, Ireland, Italy and Scotland. Wales have won the Six Nations and its predecessors 24 times outright, second only to England with...

.

Rugby career

Webb began playing first class rugby for Newport Rugby Club in 1884 and was first selected to play for Wales against the first Southern Hemisphere touring team, the New Zealand Natives

1888-1889 New Zealand Native football team

The 1888–1889 New Zealand Native football team was a New Zealand football team that toured Britain, Australia and New Zealand in 1888 and 1889. The team was composed mainly of players of Māori ancestry, although several Pakeha were included in the squad. The tour was a private endeavour, and was...

. Under the captaincy of Frank Hill

Frank Hill (rugby player)

Frank Hill was a Welsh international rugby union forward who played club rugby for Cardiff. Hill won 15 caps for Wales over a period of ten years and was given the team captaincy on four occasions....

, Wales were victorious over the tourists at St. Helen's, but it was reported that on the day all Wales the back players were visibly nervous to face the tourists, except for Webb and 'Buller' Stadden

William Stadden

William James Wood "Buller" Stadden was a Welsh international rugby union half back who played club rugby for Cardiff and Dewsbury. Stadden won eight caps for Wales over a period of seven years and is most remembered for scoring the winning try in 1890 to give Wales their first victory over England...

. Webb had an excellent game, completing a conversion after a try

Try

A try is the major way of scoring points in rugby league and rugby union football. A try is scored by grounding the ball in the opposition's in-goal area...

 from Swansea's

Swansea RFC

Swansea Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union team which plays in the Welsh Premier Division. Its home ground is St Helens Rugby and Cricket Ground in Swansea. The team is sometimes known as The Whites because of the primary colour of the team strip...

 William Towers. Webb attempted a penalty goal from the half way mark during the game, narrowly missing; and was faultless in his role as full-back, a role which he was unaccustomed. Four days later on 26 December, Webb faced the same touring team, this time as part of his club team, Newport. Facing a far larger crowd than was present at the Wales fixture, Newport lost 3 tries to nil against the far more phyisical Māori team.

Webb's second and last game for Wales was in their very next match, against Scotland as part of the 1889 Home Nations Championship

1889 Home Nations Championship

The 1889 Home Nations Championship was the seventh series of the rugby union Home Nations Championship. Three matches were played between 2 February and 2 March. It was contested by Ireland, Scotland and Wales...

. Wales lost the match and Webb was not reselected for any future Welsh internationals.